Zoanthids are closing and recessing... need advice.

[lorbocaust]

i have a 20 gallon. I keep my magnesium and calcium at perfect levels. I do water changes once a month and i also supplement biweekly with a couple of drops of iodine. in the pictures below you can see what my problem is. Both my 'Devils Armor' and 'magicians' are closing up an getting smaller, and a couple of the polyps completely recessed into oblivion. Also i have 'green implosions' which acouple of them look kind of sick/ withered. I was wondering if there i have some type of parasite in my tank doing this? Maybe its the small snails in my tank that are only 3 mms in length. I also have an anemone which half of it is recessed. i know they sometimes close up but i just wanted to let you guys know everything i do. if anyone can give me some input that would be awesome...

 

[rocko918]

they look like they are stretching for light. what type of light do you have. How are you testing everything? Do you have a refractometer?

 

[JackoChang]

Are you testing for iodine? Why are you dosing this?

 

[ultramafic]

How's your Alk? i noticed you test for calcium and mag but you did not mention this magical number. I've found the when my alk is too high or too low some of my zoas have melted on me.

 

[secretreefer]

usually when I see zoas stretching like that it means they're not getting enough light. try moving them up closer to the light into a med flow area.

 

[lorbocaust]

I have more than sufficient lighting in my tank. 130 watts t5's. The Devils Armor always was extended like that and is at the highest point of my tank. and all of my tank has substantial flow in it. I havent tested my alk recently and will do so in the morning. I will post the results then

 

[lorbocaust]

i add iodide because i am told that is a critical element for anemones to flourish.

 

[dallas reefer]

Still, you must TEST for whatever you dose.

 

[MattL22]

Any coral strechingout that much is for reason they are trying to get closer to light or flow ...... they r not happy try different spot

 

[EpicWin]

Zoas are finicky. I think sometimes the best thing I do for mine is just praying for them lol j/k. The only thing that has EVER worked for me is to take them out and do a iodine dip and put them back in. Everything else seems to stress them more and then they die. If you have a peram that is off like alk don't make a huge change all at once even if that change brings you back to good levels. Slow slow slow is the key. I dose vitamin c and it has seemed to make my zoas do a little better. However make sure you get the right vitamin c. Walmart or grocery store vit c has additives that will make your skimmer go ape. I'm going to give u the advice I always try to give myself ( lol half the time I don't take it). Don't do anything drastic. The more you bug the polyp the less chance it has

 

[ddiver]

1st thing that got my attention is your monthly water change.I'm an advocate off weekly 20% water changes.I've also done bi-weekly and i noticed that by the end of week 2, things don't look as good.Like others have said, don't add stuff unkess you can test for it.I've done everything from dosing to CaRX to probiotic sytems and have had great success at all of them, but now i don't do anything except for water changes and my corals grow and looks amazing.Adopt the K.I.S.S method and it would make the hobby much more enjoyable.

 

[lorbocaust]

okay thanks for all the feedback guys. I woke up this morning to find my 'Devils Armor' looking like crap with a blueish gray starfish on there. i took two specimens to my lfs and a very knowledgable guy told me they were definitely the cause of the destruction. all i need is some harlequin shrimp and i am good. anways i still did my water tests. and my readings goes as followed:

Magnesium- 1380
Calcium- 385
Alkalinity- 10.0/3.5 dKH meq/l

 

[lorbocaust]

UPDATE: My zooanthids are still dying

 

[GIT RITE]

Have you done a recent 20% water change as per advised eariler in this thread? Did you dip your frags in a coral dip before you added them to your tank, if not you could have a different pest like a zoa eating nudi or a zoa eating starfish as you mentioned.

 

[lorbocaust]

yep i think i have both of those . only advice i got was getting a harlequin shrimp. Would Ich Attack work on killing at least the nudi's?

 

[Schreff]

How old are your bulbs? Cal seems a bit low.

 

[subielover]

No ich attack won't work, and most likely the starfish are just cleaning off dead or decaying polyps. I would pull a few of the zoas out and inspect them with a magnifying glass, it could possibly be an infestation of some type of predator, or it could be a water quality issue. What are your nitrates and phosphate levels? And a big plus one for stepping up your water changes.

 

[SethTheWineGuy]

or it could be a water quality issue. What are your nitrates and phosphate levels? And a big plus one for stepping up your water changes.

My zoa's are mad bc my water quality is getting BETTER! They flourished when I was overflowing with PO4. Now, many are doing the same thing as the OP. I'm running GFO to slowly bring down the PO4 but it seems Z's just love dirty water.

 

[blurry]

any quick change is bad news, that includes changes for the better. drop PO4 slowly. If you notice a green buildup on the stems then look into H202 dip. Alkalinity at 10 is fine, dropping to 9 wouldn't hurt, mushrooms seem to do better under 10.

A while back I lost a lot of zoos. three interceptor treatments stopped it. Interceptor works for redbugs and some strange LPS bug that goes after chalices - zoos on the other hand I've never heard anything about, but it worked.

The stars are fine. I thought they were the culprit, but they are still there and things are flourishing.

 

[caudill187]

All of the possibilities mentioned make sense to me. I would get my alk down, as mentioned. My zoas/palys seem to do well at dKH 9 or below.

If all of your parameters are in check and stable, I would dip the colonies in something gentle like coral RX or revive. I'd would do this in a white bowl with a flashlight to rule out nudibranchs or zoa spiders, or other parasite.

I think often zoas perish secondary to viral/fungal/bacterial infections that we can't really do much about. We collect them from all corners of the world and put them into a tank together, exposing them to disease causing microbes to which they have no immunity, have never been exposed to. Kind of like tuberculosis and native americans. Antibacterial dips help with this sometimes but sometimes zoas just don't make it, no matter what you do.